Den's Tea

I made a small cup of this (maybe 6oz) with 1/2 tsp of matcha…it was better than my first attempt. I have just been using a small whisk in my tea cup (not ready to really get into it with all the proper tools/matcha bowl, etc), so that could effect how well it mixes and tastes.

However, my wife and I had vanilla icecream the other day and I sifted a heaping 1/8 tsp of it onto the top of each bowl. That was very good, though I probably could have used even more since the vanilla flavor was so strong.

This is my first experience with Matcha, so it is hard to compare it to anything.

As others have said, it is very smoothe—however, it does have a little bit of a bitter flavor that I did not taste when I drank other Den’s Teas that had matcha added. The bitterness wasn’t terrible, but it hasn’t made me excited about Matcha. I will say that this Matcha is good enough to show me what the taste/texture of Matcha is aiming for, and it helps me to imagine what a good Matcha could taste like…. so I do want to try a higher quality one sometime. However, I’m not ready to go out and buy 20g more…so hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to try a cup of the high quality stuff to see if its worth paying the higher price.

Nonetheless, this is good value for the price. If you like Matcha and have a limited budget, you probably won’t go wrong with this.

For Matcha of this quality/cost (just a guess): 84
For Green Tea (just a guess): 74
Overall (just a guess): 79

I’ve been hearing about how good iced houjicha is, so I finally tried it.
I wanted a big pitcher full, so I used 36oz water and 3 heaping TBSP (9 tsp, as the formula is 1 tsp per 4 oz water) of leaf.
After I got the water to a boil, I poured it over the leaves in our big glass teapot. I let it steep a little longer than suggested to make sure it was strong, filtered the tea into the pitcher and once it cooled to room temp put it in the fridge.

(You know what, even though its kind of boring to read, I put all those directions in most of my tasting notes in case I ever come back and want to know how I made something, in case it turned out well. Also, in case there is someone else who wanted to try it.)

Anyway, iced houjicha IS good. Strong sweetness, light roasted flavor, the benefits of iced tea without the bitterness you get from many mass produced, bagged black iced teas. I shouldn’t even compare the two, as they aren’t in the same category, but having dark-colored iced tea in a pitcher reminded me of what everyone drinks in the South (Lipton, Luzianne, etc.), but tasted SO much better.

Definitely recommended!

We have a friend who lived in Morocco and at a recent visit, taught us how to make the real thing — Moroccan mint tea. You need Chinese Gunpowder green tea as the base, but we didn’t have itunfortunately. My wife had the genius idea of using Houjicha Gold — I was a bit concerned because of the thought that the roasted flavor could take over, but since I knew this could take boiling water, we tried it anyway. (For loose leaf, we didn’t have any other options that could take boiling water very well).

We went out to the small garden in front of our place and picked enough fresh mint to fill up a whole English pot (40oz water) full of mint leaves. We boiled around 36 oz water, added 6 tsp sugar, and poured it over the leaves. Then we turned the fire back on until the water re-boiled. I poured 12 oz this mint-water over the (3 tsp loose leaf) houjicha in a smaller pot, and steeped the houjicha according to the normal directions (boiling for 30 seconds). (Thus, we were able to re-steep the houjicha 3x using 12 oz each time.)

It came out extremely delicious! Minty, sweet, and a very small hint of roastedness.
Our friend said it was reminiscent of the times having tea in Morocco with friends. :-) The secret was using fresh peppermint (especially from right there in the garden!). SO delicious. If this was a separate tea of its own, I’d give it a 90-95.

I’m sure we’ll make it again when more peppermint becomes available.

I opened this tea and let my two-year-old smell it. She just said, “Papa, kann ich ein bisschen essen?” (Papa, can I eat a little?) She didn’t know what it was, but that is how delicious the aroma of this tea is,—even a little kid wants to eat it!

The aroma of the brewed tea itself is delcious too; and in my new yunomi the color looked almost as dark as coffee. Such a good tea and I love having it around to switch things up from the normal steamed greens I’ve been drinking.

Got this in the $3 sampler pack…

When I was a kid, I used to use a magnifying lens to burn leaves that had fallen from trees. I remember it always brought out a very nice, roasted smell from the leaf.
This tea has that exact same smell that I remember from childhood!

Once brewed, it has a nice roasted aroma and taste, but yet is still comes across as being refreshing. However it ends with a surprising sweetness that makes you want to gulp it down. Plus it’s nice to be able to drink it in the evening with the low caffeine.

I have yet to try it iced but it’s on my to do list!

Rating -
For Houjicha (in my very limited experience): 92/100
For Green Tea Overall: 82/100
Overall: 87

This is, simply put, one of my favorite teas. Glad to have it back in the cupboard.

Had the last of this yesterday.
I brewed it at a bit lower to get the sencha to come through; it had a subtle but tasty umami flavor, but I actually think I prefer it with a more fruity taste and the sencha coming through underneath (instead of being the dominant flavor).

I’m going to miss this until next year, but it is fun to have something to look forward to.

When I compare this with Hashiri Sencha, I have to raise the latter up to at least equal it. In terms of flavor itself and personal preference, this is still my favorite tea right now.
However, the quality, value (5+ steepings for Hashiri, as opposed to maybe 2-3 for Sakura), and taste range of Hashiri is amazing; so really, it’s a “better” tea than the Sakura.

This is my favorite tea right now…

I’m upping this a little – it is SO good. Had a cup yesterday morning and again this morning…Always delicious. I should have bought more than just 2oz. …when I run out I’m going to have to wait until next spring :( !

Had a cup this morning – delicious! as always. Cherry, flowery, buttery, full-mouth feel.

Really looking forward to the Hashiri Sencha shipment next week! I’ve also ordered Pear Sencha iced-tea.

The aroma is wonderful—deliciously cherry-without smelling like fake cherry cough syrup. I almost like opening the bag and smelling the tea as much as drinking it!

The taste is just enough cherry as to enhance the Sencha, without overpowering it. That’s the point of flavored senchas after all, right? To add a twist to the original, a new way to enjoy the normal cup of sencha.

If you find the cherry flavor not strong enough, especially on the 2nd brew, brew it hotter (between 190 – 200) and it will come out more.

Rating –
For Sakura Sencha: 100/100 (I doubt there are much better Sakura Senchas out there — any one challenge that, or have any suggestions to try?)
For Green Tea: 90/100
Overall: 95/100

I wasn’t quite sure how to brew this tea since I didn’t feel like pulling out a gaiwan. Using an infuser basket and ceramic pot worked pretty well just the same though. Boy is this stuff green! Definitely a lot more cloudy that regular genmaicha. It was sweet but the nutty taste I love was still there.

Got this from a friend; I was a little nervous to try this one. My only real exposure to straight, unflavored tea has been mainly at Japanese and Chinese restaurants, where I’ve been happy to have unsweetened, (mostly) unflavored tea to balance out the tastes of yummy sushi happening.

The aroma is definitely woodsy and toasty (I can definitely see where some of the other comments about an almost-pot-esque aroma come from), and the taste was surprisingly light. Very balanced, nice and toasty like it smells, and not at all bland like I’d been fearing. Drank this unsweetened, and piping hot – it settled my slightly upset stomach, and definitely educated me. I would absolutely have this one again! Not my favorite ever, because I’m still very attached to flavored teas, but a really solid tea to keep around.

Sipdown no. 68 of 2016 (no. 279 total).

Enjoyed this while it lasted. It was trading off with the kukicha as my “take it to work tea” for the last couple of weeks. Makes me think of rice crispies. My description of my first encounter with this in a previous note is pretty much still spot on.

I’d read about certain green teas having a post-apocalyptic, glowing green color — the sort of color that makes me think of some of those post-apocalyptic games I played (can’t now remember, was it Fallout? Half-Life? Doom? All of them?) but I’d never actually seen a tea that color. Until tonight. Whoa. Amazing green!

This is the last tea in my sampler, and the fine, very green dusting of the matcha over the leaves and rice is pretty cool looking. It looks like bright, lime-green powdered sugar over long pointy/twisty leaves. It smells juicily vegetal.

I steeped according to the pamphlet instructions: 30 seconds/boiling. The liquor color is a glowing green, not as lime-like as the dry leaves. More tending toward avocado.

The aroma is classic toasty rice, a smell which to me is somewhat similar to the way the old maids in the popcorn bag taste if you chew on them as I’m prone to do. It’s the primary taste as well, with a fresh green tea underlay.

I like the flavor of genmaichas whenever I drink them. I don’t often sit around thinking that they’re just the thing that would hit the spot, though. This is a good, solid genmaicha and I can see ordering it again, but I think the others in the Den’s sample were more suited to frequent drinking as far as my tastes go so I ranked this one a bit lower than the others.

I love the roasted scent of this tea. But then, I do have a certain fondness for roasty-toasty teas. But… I don’t care for smoky teas. Which… seems pretty odd to me.

I brewed according to Den’s Preferred Brewing Method, except that after I brought the water to a boil, I first poured it into my ceramic mug so that it could take just a bit of the heat off of the water before I poured it into my smart brewer.

30 seconds to deliciousness!

The aroma of the brewed tea is caramel-y, like caramelized sugar. It also has a slight coffee-ish scent to it.

The flavor – sweet, caramel, woodsy, with a deep earthy note. Kind of like a Genmaicha but without the grassy-green-tea taste, although there is a very gentle, almost-barely-there note of vegetative taste that I can detect. Sort of like a roasted brown rice casserole with a few roasted, deeply caramelized, root vegetables. Now… if only I could actually create such a dish – I’d be quite happy!

YUM, yum, YUM this tea is good.

I think that this was the Sencha teabag that came in my Den’s Sampler for Novices. This was extremely powdery; I had forgotten what teabags were like because I’ve been spoiling myself with loose leaf! When I poured the water over the bag, it kind of foamed. Although I have no experience with Matcha except for the Matcha that Den’s added in their Genmaicha Extra Green, I’d have to say that I agree with everyone here who thinks that there is some Matcha in this bag. The tea was just simply too frothy to be regular Sencha.

Anyway, for the taste. The first thing that hit me was the mouth feel – it’s way creamier than I would have expected. It’s almost buttery. Perhaps that’s the Matcha that may or may not be in this. In spite of the really thick mouth feel, this tea manages to be very light. It has little to no after taste. I definitely think I’d purchase this again. Every tea that I try from the Den’s Sampler gets better and better. Actually, I think I like the bagged version of this better than the loose leaf! How strange…

Enjoying the last I have of this tea. It will be missed, but, having it gone gives me something to look forward to next spring when Den’s releases their 2011 batch. In the meantime, I’ve plenty of tea to keep me occupied!

This is my favorite cherry flavored Sencha because the Sencha takes the leading role. This doesn’t taste like cherry flavoring with tea, it tastes like tea flavored with cherry. I love the buttery flavor of the Sencha and how well it marries with the cherry – which is a lighter, tarter cherry (more like a cherry you might use to make cherry pie, rather than a sweet cherry like bing or rainier).

Lovely!

I love cherry flavored sencha teas, especially in the spring time.

The aroma is very vegetative but with a pleasing cherry note.

The flavor is very nice – the cherry sencha teas I’ve tasted in the past possess a stronger cherry flavoring, but are often on the verge of being too sweet or too much like cherry cough syrup. The fruit flavor here is lighter, but much more natural tasting.

The sencha leaves are very fresh tasting. Strong vegetative quality.

Overall, I’m very pleased with this flavored sencha.

Den’s tea sample number three. Compared to the organic sencha of last night: these leaves look similar — feathery and delicate, but are a bit darker green. I had thought the organic sencha leaves smelled vegetal last night, but it’s interesting, compared to these they smell less vegetal and more, for lack of a better word, herbaceous. The liquor looks similar, a chartreuse color with tiny particles suspended in it. The aroma is similiarly cabbagy/spinachy/asparagussy, but more buttery and not grassy at all.

I did not get any bitterness in the taste, which was vaguely reminiscent of steamed broccoli, right when it turns that very bright green color and is still al dente. There’s a mildness that isn’t quite sweetness.

I’m not really sure which I like better, but I’m giving this one just a tiny bit higher rating because it seems to have just a tad more depth.

Enjoying my last of this – and I did enjoy each and every serving.

Sweet, creamy… so good! I will miss it, but I still have some of my DoMatcha to keep me busy!